Traditional School Calendar: FYI, Not Our Fault!

One of the most enduring misconceptions about American education is that the traditional school calendar is result of practices arising from 19th century rural America. It has been repeated so often that it is has become almost a cliché. Take for example a December 1, 2004 Education Week Commentary by Jennifer Davis and David Farbman: "The conventional school year of 180 six-hour days with a long summer vacation that exists today was developed chiefly to accommodate the labor needs of 19th-century farmers. Yet, at the close of 2004, this schedule is still the norm."

A funny thing about that statement is that you never hear a farmer say it. Why? Because it's not true! If you were going to develop a school schedule that accommodates the labor needs of farmers, you would have vacations in the spring when you plant the crops and in the fall when you harvest the crops.

So how did the traditional school calendar come into being? According to Kenneth M. Gold author of "Schools In: The History of Summer Education in American Public Schools," the long summer vacation is actually the result of an urban society. It turns out that it gets really hot in cities in the summer months. Before air conditioning was invented, spending summers in places like New York City was pretty unbearable. The best option for beating the heat was to get out of the city and head north, to the mountains, or the ocean. Hence, the summer vacation was born!

Why does the agrarian society myth still prevail? One reason is that fewer and fewer people come from agricultural backgrounds and have no background knowledge upon which to know the statement is false. Another reason is that their urban counterparts have long considered rural people as being backward and inferior. Don’t believe it? Look up the origins of the word villain sometime. The traditional calendar myth reaffirms people's perceptions of rural people.

Keep those emails coming.

The Golden Rule

A few years ago I interviewed a husband and wife from a rural community in eastern Colorado. At the end of the interview I asked them if there was anything they wanted to add that they hadn't gotten to talk about. Their response was "tell them not to mess with our school." They being the state legislature and the Colorado Department of Education.

For many people it's hard to understand the feeling of ownership that rural people often feel toward their school and the desire not to have their school messed with. This feeling is a result of people investing tremendous time and energy in the school. Often times rural schools have been attended by multiple generations of the same family. This is not a common experience for most people.

The problem with this sentiment is the Golden Rural: whoever has the gold makes the rules. Put more succinctly and more accurately, whoever has the gold rules.

State governments have had to take on a greater share of public school funding in order to make the funding formulas more equitable. As states have provided increasing proportions of school budgets, they have also increased the expectations for schools.

States face the same issue. The federal government can't force them to implement the provisions of No Child Left Behind, but if a state wants federal money it has to implement provisions of the law.

Although we might like to believe otherwise, it's a good thing that state and federal governments have expectations for how public funds are expended. The public should not only expect accountability for how public schools use resources, they should demand it. This mean that state legislatures are going to be messing with rural schools for a long time to come.

Rural Education Task Force

One of the most informative pieces you can read about the U.S. Department of Education’s commitment to helping rural schools is in Appendix II of the Government Accountability’s report “No Child Left Behind Act: Additional Assistance and Research on Effective Strategies Would Help Small Rural Districts.” In the appendix, Deputy Secretary Eugene W. Hickok responds to the report by identifying the activities the department had undertaken to assist small rural school districts.

One small item in Secretary Hickok’s response is mention of the department’s rural education task force. I’ve heard rumors of a rural education task force but have never seen anything from it. I did a search of the department’s website to get some information.

First I found mention of it in a Department of Education press release from April 2, 2003. As part of another press conference, Secretary Rod Paige announced the “formation of a high-level task force within the Department to help identify challenges faced by states and school districts and to work with the caucus on finding solutions.”

Another mention of the rural education task force is on a page from the Office of the Deputy Secretary. It's essentially the same information but does add that “the efforts of the task force will include the challenges and opportunities facing rural education and the promising prospects made available through the effective use of state-of-the-art technology.”

The one accomplishment I can find is a virtual town-hall meeting on how rural schools can use technology to meet the requirement of the No Child Left Behind Act. Otherwise it seems that the principle activity of the rural education task force is to ask rural parents, educators and citizens to tell them about the challenges facing rural schools.

Not finding much information, I contacted the department to find out how I could learn more about the task force’s work. I was referred to the web page from the Office of Deputy Secretary that I had already found.

It’s been almost two years and the only tangible thing the Rural Education Task Force has accomplished is a virtual town hall meeting. The purpose of a task force is to accomplish a task! What are these guys doing? If you know, send me an email.

Some Good News for Rural Ed

Rural schools got some good news last week when Senator Mike Enzi of Wyoming assumed the chairmanship of the Senate's Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. Senator Enzi has shown a great interest in rural schools and has put his money where is mouth is. In 2003, Mr. Enzi was the prime force behind the establishment of the bi-partisan Senate Rural Education Caucus, which he co-chaired with Susan Collins (R-ME), Kent Conrad (D-ND), and John Edwards (D-NC). He was also behind the legislation creating the National Research Center on Rural Education Support.

Mr. Enzi comes by his interest in rural education earnestly. Wyoming has 5.1 people per square miles, but he comes from Wyoming's fourth largest city, Gillette—population 22,000.

If you see Senator Enzi, tell him thanks!

Why A Rural Education Blog?

After the euphoria of putting my first post on Mr. Rural ED subsided (about 30 seconds), a new emotion emerged: panic. What was I thinking setting up a blog where readers expect you to write something interesting? Why would anyone want to read commentary on rural education issues? What am I going to write about next? My mind was paralyzed with fear.

The panic lasted until the next morning's shower when I came up with three topics I wanted to write about and that at least a few people might be interested in. Unfortunately this post isn't about one of those but is about why the world needs a rural education blog.

The short explanation is that there are a lot of things about rural education I would like to say and that I think need to be said. I think the federal government isn't doing enough for rural schools. I think some folks are too willing to accept the periodic crumbs the federal government throws to rural schools because they don't realize they deserve more. I think rural schools should get their fair share—no more, no less.

I think every rural school can be great, but many are mediocre. I think the problems facing rural schools are complex and require multifaceted solutions. I think the following adage is true: "For every problem there is a simple solution, that is wrong."

I think No Child Left Behind is designed to address urban issues and is ill suited to rural communities. I think the Rural Education Achievement Program is a good program but isn't enough. I don't think a community of 24,000 is rural.

I think the role of public schools is to serve the pubic. I think most educators believe the role of public schools is to serve the individual student. I think those people need to go back and take an American Government class.

I think we need a thoughtful discussion about what rural schools should, can, and need to become. I don't think that discussion is going to happen unless people are willing to tackle the tough questions. I don't think that discussion will take place if the federal government or some other organization is in charge of it.

This blog is my contribution to that discussion.

2004 Rural Education Awards

I'm starting this blog off with a look back at last year with my 2004 Rural Education Awards. It's never too late to recognize outstanding achievement.

BEST RURAL EDUCATION REPORT: GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE
In September, the Government Accountability Office issued a report that found the U.S. Department of Education had not done enough to help small rural school districts address the unique challenges they face in improving student achievement. The Department responded with a statement that the GAO probably didn’t know about all the things they had done for rural schools. For example, Deputy Secretary Eugene W. Hickok noted that the department's Teacher-to-Teacher initiative was planning four Saturday workshops, two of which would be held in rural areas. According to the department's website those four sites were Bentonville, Arkansas; Wheeling, West Virginia; Redmond, Washington; and Madison, Wisconsin. Which are the two rural sites? Using the National Center for Education Statistics' Public School District Locator we learn that none are. I think I see the problem. The department thinks that any community smaller than a central city is rural. This explains some things. {See the Best New Rural Education Research Center Award for a related item.)

BEST MEDIUM REASSIGNMENT: JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN RURAL EDUCATION
Hats off to Ted Coladarci and Amy Cates for making the transition of the "Journal of Research in Rural Education" from a print to online journal smooth and seemingly flawless. The pipeline for getting rural education research published is now bigger and more easily accessible to those in the field. Articles are free (my favorite kind!) and past issues are available free of charge online as pdf files. Subscribers to the JRRE-L newsletter (also free!) receive email notices when new articles go online. After Nancy Jenning's success as JRRE Book Review Editor, I tried to get Ted to name me as sports editor but he wouldn't go for it. Nancy, on the other hand, thought it was a wonderful idea. Thanks Nancy!

BEST NEW RURAL EDUCATION RESEARCH CENTER:
On September 10, the Institute of Education Sciences awarded a five-year grant to establish the National Research Center on Rural Education Support, based at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. According to the new center's director Thomas W. Farmer, the center will examine students’ academic, behavioral, and social development and find ways to help educators teach rural students more effectively. Some were surprised by the selection because Mr. Farmer was not known among rural education scholars. I didn't find it surprising given the U.S. Department of Education's past record with rural education. It is surprising, however, that the Government Accountability Office (see the Best Rural Education Report Award) had to recommend to the department that the new center should "address the unique challenges small rural districts face." In spite of the Department of Education's assurances, the GAO could find "no indication that the center would direct any research to specifically focus on challenges and strategies applicable to small, isolated rural districts." On second thought, perhaps it's not that surprising.

BEST USE OF RURAL EDUCATION IN A CAMPAIGN: BUSH CHENEY
Who else could I pick? They won thanks in part to rural voters many of whom must be satisfied with No Child Left Behind. The Kerry Edwards campaign came in a close second for this award thanks to John Edwards’ support of rural schools and the Senate Rural School Caucus. The tipping point was the Bush Administration’s efforts on behalf of the Rural Education Achievement Program (REAP), which the campaign highlighted on its website. Some might complain that the president’s budgets have either under funded the program or zeroed it out completely and so he shouldn't get credit for it. To those I say, what are you going to believe, President Bush's budget requests or a campaign website?

Here's to a great 2005! Keep those emails coming.